Wednesday, April 22, 2015

One way or another,
Germany’s Bundestag is about to make history with the upcoming vote on the
issue of recognizing Palestinian statehood. A positive vote for Palestine would
finally strengthen the European Union’s weakest link in contributing to Middle
East Peace. A negative vote for Palestinian statehood would leave the
Palestinians with no political horizon, which can only lead to more violence
and/or a strategic shift where Palestinians drop their bid for statehood and
convert their struggle to a total civil rights struggle: in essence, forcing a
one state reality politically to match the military one state reality that Israel
has had the luxury to construct, with nearly 50 years of its military occupation
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including East Jerusalem.

Palestine did
not fall into a historic crisis due to a natural disaster. Dispossession,
discrimination and prolonged military occupation was the result, to a great
extent, of the colossal tragedy that befell Jews in Europe. We Palestinians are
still paying the price for those acts today. It is long overdue that this manmade
nightmare should end.

If the
Bundestag chooses to refuse Palestinian statehood when called to act on it,
this would be totally out of synchronization with the long-standing German
position for two-states as a model to resolve the conflict. Germany’s political
integrity is at stake.

Fear-mongers
have unleashed their venom against Palestinian statehood in the discourse in
Germany. By now, their mode of operation is well-known, and has failed over and
over again. It failed with all 138 countries that voted overwhelmingly in favor
of the 2012 Palestinian bid for observer state status in the UN (Germany
abstained) and it is failing in country after country, where bilateral
recognition (over 130 countries to date) of Palestine is growing by the day.
With the newly re-elected Israeli prime minister winning on a campaign rally of
no two-states, the burden of action now squarely sits on the lap of the
international community.

Allow me to
take a brief issue with the arguments made by those who urge Germany to not
join the global momentum toward recognizing Palestine.

THEY SAY
Palestinians never missed an opportunity for peace. The fact of the matter is
that the boot of Israeli occupation was never, ever removed from the neck of
Palestinians to give them a fighting chance to create a new reality—not in
Oslo, not in the West Bank, not in East Jerusalem, and surely not in the Gaza Strip.
The unrelenting extent of Israel’s effective control over all the occupied
territory is no longer an issue for debate; historical record is clear.

THEY SAY the
Palestinian political body promotes extremism and violence. The fact of the
matter is that it is a miracle that the Palestinians have been able to maintain
any sense of a political system at all, given Israel’s systematic, forced fragmentation
of the Palestinians’ geographic reality, campaign of targeted assassinations and
continued policy of imprisoning Palestinian political leadership, including
over a dozen democratically elected members of the legislative council. In light
of this reality on the ground, the Palestinians still beg the international
community to uphold international law and UN resolutions, themselves bringing
the two-state solution to the podium of the UN General Assembly for approval.
What is clear is, now that the majority of the world accepts Palestinian
statehood, that if key international players, Germany being on the top of the
list, drop the ball of bringing Palestine into existence on the ground, no one
should complain if the younger generation of Palestinians drop statehood once
and for all and we are back in a cycle of never-ending violence.

THEY SAY the
Palestinians’ struggle for freedom and independence is linked to the horrific
events unfolding in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. The fact of the matter is
that even the Israeli security establishment has acknowledged that regional
events are very different and detached from what Palestinians are requesting.
Actually, it is the Palestinian movement, not to mention the Palestinian
refugees stuck for 60 years in the region due to Israel refusing to allow them
to return home, who have the most to lose with the region engulfed in domestic
and regional chaos.

THEY SAY
Palestinians must be put through a test to prove our worthiness of freedom. The
fact of the matter is that in the world of global governance there are no
teachers and classrooms, only international law which applies to all. No excuse
under the sun can justify one more day of military occupation, especially one
that does not view itself as an occupation and continues to facilitate its citizens’
squatting on Palestinian lands.

In the Oslo
Peace Accords, over twenty year ago, Palestinians recognized the state of
Israel, in writing. In reply, Israel merely recognized the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) as the representative of the Palestinian people. This
lopsided starting point may have contributed to the failure of the entire Oslo exercise.
Today’s Germany has the opportunity to correct that historic mismatch and save
the region from future violence, let alone saving Israel from itself.

The previous UK
Consul General in Jerusalem, Sir Vincent Fean, addressed his country’s upcoming
debate on Palestinian statehood in The Sunday Herald (Scotland) on 19 April
2015 in an article titled, “We can restore hope in a just peace for Palestine
and Israel.” He wrote, “Palestinians have the right to statehood, peace with
justice and hope. Israelis have the same right to live in safety, with good
neighbours and shared hope. We can do what is right for both peoples. Our next
Government should recognise the State of Palestine alongside Israel, to
preserve the two-state solution. Failure to resolve this conflict fairly
remains the best recruiting sergeant for violent extremism. We regain our
balance by upholding the international law we helped to write.”

The Bundestag
has a choice to make. It can continue looking backwards in history on this
issue and ignore its leading role in securing peace in the Middle East, or it
can courageously look forward, maybe even recognizing something it owes
history, and assume leadership in this debate. The choice is yours. We hope you
will make the choice for peace.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

In Issue #35 of Democracy, Matt Duss wrote a provocative essay, "American Progressives and Israel," that reviewed two recent books on Israel. He argued that both the far right and far left had lost sight of an important group: Israeli liberals. We asked a wide range of commenters to respond.

Sam Bahour - Photo

About Me

Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American based in Al-Bireh/Ramallah, Palestine and is managing partner of Applied Information Management (AIM), which specializes in business development with a niche focus on start-ups and providing executive counsel.
Bahour was instrumental in the establishment of two publicly traded firms: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Center. He is currently an independent director at the Arab Islamic Bank, advisory board member of the Open Society Foundations’ Arab Regional Office, and completed a full term as a Board of Trustees member and treasurer at Birzeit University. In addition to his presidential appointment to serve as a general assembly member of the Palestine Investment Fund, Palestine’s $1B sovereign wealth fund, Bahour serves in various capacities in several community organizations, including co-founder and chairman of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy, board member of Just Vision in New York, board member and policy adviser at Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, and secretariat member of the Palestine Strategy Group.